If you're like many people, you may tend to focus on training the muscles you can see and feel, such as your quadriceps and deltoids. However, the stabilizing muscles that keep your joints in place and assist in moving your shoulders, such as your rotator cuffs, often get ignored until an injury occurs. The rotator cuff muscles include the subscapularis, teres minor, infraspinatus and supraspinatus; they allow your shoulders to move in a variety of directions and angles. Physical exercises to keep the rotator cuffs strong and mobile are essential to reducing your risk of injuries.

Dynamic Stretching

Before you start training, move your shoulders in a swinging motion repetitively with rhythm and control, rather than just holding the stretch for a period of time. This method is called dynamic stretching. In this type of stretching, the movement patterns often resemble the sport or activity you are warming up for. For example, a volleyball player would do front and back arm swings, while a boxer would do jabs, hooks and other boxing drills to warm up the shoulders and arms before hitting the bag.

Pushing and Pulling

During pushing and pulling movements, the prime movers are the muscles that produce the force, such as the pectoralis major and latissimus dorsi, while the stabilizers -- rotator cuffs -- control the rate of movement and the joints' range of motion. The rotator cuffs aren't very good at producing large amounts of force when you push or pull, but they provide the foundation for the big muscles to work. Think of the rotator cuffs as the supporting cast for the lead in a movie; without them, the leading actors can't develop their characters well. Typical pushing and pulling exercises include pushups, pullups, dumbbell chest presses, cable rows, dumbbell shoulder presses and lat pulldowns.

Power Training

During quick and powerful bursts of movement, your rotator cuffs reflexively contract and stabilize your shoulders when you move, preventing your shoulders from dislocating or tearing a tendon or ligament. Power exercises include overhead medicine ball throws, medicine ball rotational tosses, power pushups, Olympic lifts and medicine ball ground slams. If you are new to power training, work with a qualified exercise professional before training on your own, since your rotator cuffs can be easily injured from improper technique or lack of recovery.

About the Author

Nick Ng has been writing fitness articles since 2003, focusing on injury prevention and exercise strategies. He has covered health for "MiaBella" magazine. Ng received his Bachelor of Arts in communications from San Diego State University in 2001 and has been a certified fitness coach with the National Academy of Sports Medicine since 2002.